Small, Medium Operators Meeting
Having its President Paul Abela being a member of the board of the Mriehel Enterprise Zone Foundation (Now referred to as The Central Business District Foundation), GRTU has stepped up its efforts to make sure that the small operators within the area play an active role.
GRTU is a strong believer in the Mriehel project that the Foundation has been tasked to implement and believes that small businesses have a very important role to play in the project and have a vested interest. GRTU has in fact been in contact with all the small operators and we are in the process of setting up an Mriehel Small Business Industrial Area Committee in order to better represent the interest of operators on the ground.
Two meetings have already been held in this regard. The first one was an internal meeting called by GRTU and the second one was co-organised with the Foundation. During these meetings the plans of the Foundation were discussed. These included small projects that have already started to be implemented and also projects in the pipeline on issues such as alternative parking zones, waste collection systems, storm water mitigation system and marketing proposals for the area, amongst others.
Those present showed a very good level of interest in the matter and raised a healthy amount of valid points. Their biggest concerns related to the number of entries and exits into the area that are not enough and cause daily traffic jams, the limited parking areas available and also the inadequacy of the infrastructure that is not adequate for conditions to host an industrial area as things stand today.
Through the intervention of GRTU, small businesses have been spared having to pay for their contribution as their share, amounting to Eur 50,000 was paid by the government collectively.
GRTU and the Foundation want to give all the necessary support for small operators in the area to be active. The project is not a project for the large players only and it is certainly not a project that will disregard the needs of small businesses or see them elbowed out. The operation of small businesses is important for the area in total and their interests will be safeguarded.
Interview with Ms Joanne Debono Grech
Mayor Birkirkara Local Council and member of the Board of Administrators of the Mriehel Enterprise Zone Foundation (Now referred to as The Central Business District Foundation)
WHAT DOES MRIEHEL ZONE MEANS FOR THE BIRKIRKARA LOCAL COUNCIL?
The biggest chunk of Mriehel Industrial Zone is part of the Birkirkara confines and we also have some residents living here. Even though CAP 363 of the Malta Laws clearly defines the industrial estates around the island as NOT falling under the responsibility of local councils, and hence we were never given any allocation for the area, we still have done a lot of interventions in the past years such as road marking and traffic signs, street names, patching with cold asphalt, cleaning of culverts, sweeping and repairs of street lighting.
WHY IS THE FOUNDATION AN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT?
The foundation is very important since it is putting all stakeholders around a common table. We all strive to create WIN/WIN situations for everyone.
DO YOU THINK THE FOUNDATION WILL IMPROVE THE AREA?
In our opinion the foundation had a wonderful start due to the backing by central government. Roads are already being resurfaced, and some problems which we, as a council, could not solve all by ourselves due to limited resources, are being solved. We are proud to have such a dynamic CEO in Mr. Keith Fenech, who is lobbying hard for the area and already had a great deal of success.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE COUNCIL’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE FOUNDATION IN THE FUTURE?
We are proposing an embellishment project which if successfully accepted, will definitely create a green area at the Mriehel Estate confines. We believe that the estate not only needs better infrastructure such as roads, pavements and lighting, but also greener areas from which both employees at the estate and residents can benefit.
